KitaCon returns! Back at the Birmingham Hilton Metropole, across a pond from the NEC I was at the previous week no less!

Kita has made for itself the name of the UK party con, and it lives up to it in full force. There’s been a shift from cosplayers milling about during the day making full use of the pretty venue and the lovely outdoors for photoshoots to mostly empty corridors and people crammed into panels or sleeping off the previous night to make way for the next big party!

A combination of that, being busy, and being a bit on the lazy side means it’s a bit light on the floor costume shots, there were plenty of other photographers and videographers around so hopefully no one is going without.

On the other hand if you got on the stage over the weekend then prepare for a barrage of shots. Pretty lighting and and the lovely Lulu Rose as my glamorous assistant means we’ve got you covered. Keep an eye out for her shots, this is her first convention properly using a DSLR and I’m proud to include them in the gallery.

So I started off with a video camera, just as I started going to cons I’d upgraded to a miniDV camcorder from an old Video8 thingy, so at least we’re spared analogue noise here.

MinamiCon was my first ever convention, Minami 7 to be precise. I had no idea what I was in for, I was merely told it was a good time and I was too late for the year people I knew were going (6) so I signed up for the following year when they’d all graduated and promptly realised I had no clue whatsoever what actually went on at a con!

It would be a few years later when I made the switch to photography, my video camera had died and photos gave a much more instant gratification, also I hadn’t tried to shoot anything useful and had just swung the camera around at anything that looked interesting – I could edit but was useless at having a purpose to filming. When I couldn’t get photos I’d switch to video on a tiny IXUS 70, and when I upgraded to a DSLR I would often thrust the IXUS on whoever had the misfortune to sit next to me to film skits with. It wasn’t until I strapped said DSLR to a steadycam that I ventured back into video proper.

So there’s kind of a few dark years where there’s not much video at all – I was too busy taking photos! Nonetheless I put together everything I could find, every scrap of useful Minami footage that I personally have over the years. This means anything prior to 7 hasn’t made it in for obvious reasons!

It’s a wonderful convention if you’re the type to enjoy it, it’s small, it’s quiet, it’s chilled, you’re never far from a place to sit down and socialise. We play stupid games, go to interesting panels, and just chill out rather than most events where it’s run around like a headless chicken time. Being my first convention it’s also the one I share the most memories of, it’s where I’ve met the majority of my friends, it’s always the con that sees my new equipment first because it’s the most relaxed, and the easiest to practice at. It sees a good turnover of new faces every year but still feels the same – in a good way. It’s like coming home once a year.

To that end, to celebrate its 20th anniversary I put this together. It’s not polished, it’s not an exciting beat-filled track, but it suits Minami perfectly.

And so a chapter is closed in UK convention history. Ayacon Apocalypse sees the last of the much beloved convention in a final blaze of glory. Warwick’s stunning venue is lauded as one of if not the best any of our events are hosted at and this year it outdid itself. The local costcutter volunteered to open 24 hours (and stocked up on pallets full of half-price Mountain Dew), plenty of places to eat were available at all hours, rooms were open til crazy late for everything from partying to chilling. Events ran silky smooth, preparations abound, and both setup and takedown ran like clockwork.

It’s a real shame to see it come to an end and I hope other events take a book full of notes from what Aya does right.

Unfortunately in a bid to drop some of the major burnout I’ve suffered for some time now, I’ve taken a bit of a break on the photo front. I don’t seem to have been alone, much of the atmosphere was a relaxed one and people wanting to savour the last Ayacon rather than spend it behind or posed in front of cameras all day. Between all of us I think we’ve still got the event covered but this does mean everyone may have to hunt all of our galleries to get everything they’re after. Apologies for that.

Not many people doing filming this time, everyone seems to be sticking to the larger commercial events, I’ve yet to take stock of how much I’ve got but for the same reasons as above it might need to be a collaborative effort. I know I’ve got some good stuff, but overall I think we all really just wanted to enjoy this event rather than work our asses off and stress for it.

Always my official start to the convention year, MinamiCon rolls around once more in time-honoured tradition. No other event is as much of an institution as turning up to that Novotel lobby to already see crowds of familiar faces like we never left it the previous year!

A much more relaxed event than most in recent memory, as if there was a collective LETS TAKE A BREAK FROM RIDICULOUS COSTUMES FOR ONCE and I think it was a good move, certainly meant I wasn’t running around like a headless chicken for once! Still plenty of lovely costumes to take pictures of at leisure, and I think overall comfort levels were higher for it. This year the convention started earlier and finished later, crammed a lot more events in, and ran a chillout kotatsu lounge after the closing ceremony, filled with makeshift kotatsus, duvets, pillows, and many, many games. Probably one of my favourite Minamis to date.

My first venture towards the Telford venue for the newly rebranded MCM ComicCon, and a thoroughly good time it was. Only a single day deal, but large enough and popular enough to be worth a visit, plenty of nice costumes on show, yet small enough to be cosy and relaxed as an event. Perfect way to start the 2013 con season.

It gives that extra bit of hope for the year to come, it’s easy to feel a lot of love for the things being cosplayed, it’s not done for attention or fame or anything other than dressing up as something ridiculous that you have a passion for!